Ireland’s expanding academic ties with China have created opportunities for universities, but the accompanying risks of authoritarian influence warrant closer scrutiny. The main concerns relate to Irish institutions’ growing involvement in transnational education (TNE) programs in China and to the presence and influence of controversial Chinese-linked entities, such as Confucius Institutes and Huawei.
This study draws on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to 17 Irish universities listed by the Higher Education Authority. In total, we collected 208 records from 20 Irish institutions. Of these, 186 records (89.4%) were provided by universities in response to FOI correspondence, while the remaining 22 (10.6%) were obtained through secondary-source research.
Transnational education
TNE is a defining feature of Ireland–China academic relations. It enables higher education institutions to deliver degrees and qualifications outside their home jurisdiction.
In this study, 69 records (33.2%) relate to TNE collaborations between Irish and Chinese institutions. Ten of Ireland’s 12 public universities operate TNE programs or institutes in China; the two exceptions are the University of Galway and Munster Technological University. Overall, 18 Irish institutions captured by this study have TNE partnerships in China.
TNE partnerships in China, one of the world’s largest educational markets, can generate substantial financial returns. They open revenue streams overseas and support ongoing student recruitment tied to lucrative international tuition fees.
In China, foreign universities can offer courses only through partnerships with a Chinese institution, nominally under shared governance arrangements. In practice, program administration is ultimately overseen by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, who often function as de facto managers of joint programs.
These arrangements expose Irish universities to significant risks, including to the welfare of students and staff and to the safeguarding of academic freedom. A China Strategic Risks Institute study of UK universities’ TNE campuses in China found that, in some cases, students and academics on joint campuses faced ideological controls, surveillance and restrictions on free speech. Students, despite studying for UK degrees, were required to take accredited courses aligned with the CCP’s authoritarian worldview, while extracurricular activities were closely monitored by CCP-affiliated ideological staff.
Warning signs have already surfaced in Ireland’s growing reliance on China-based TNE. In 2020, University College Dublin, which now operates three joint campuses in China, circulated a draft document describing “academic freedom” as an “obstacle” to its internationalization strategy. Although the draft was later withdrawn, University College Dublin has continued to expand its TNE footprint in China.
Confucius Institutes
Ireland hosts three Confucius Institutes (CIs), a small number compared with larger European neighbors. The UK hosts 30, for example, while France has 15. Even so, the Irish cases offer some of the clearest indications of how CIs can pose risks to academic freedom. In 2021, a CI-affiliated entity was permitted to teach an accredited University College Dublin module on Chinese politics, despite explicit concerns raised by the university’s School of Politics and International Relations, which argued that allowing an organization linked to an authoritarian state to teach students about that state’s political system posed a direct risk to academic integrity.
Nevertheless, the teaching proceeded. At the time of writing, University College Dublin’s Confucius Institute and its affiliated Institute for Chinese Studies (both overseen by the same director) continue to offer courses on Chinese politics. The other two CIs in Ireland, hosted by University College Cork and the University of Galway, also remain active.
Research Security
Research collaboration between Irish universities and Chinese entities is extensive and supported by government-level cooperation. One prominent example is the SFI–NSFC Partnership Program launched in 2017, backed by a joint funding pool of more than €12 million from Science Foundation Ireland and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
In this study, we identified 11 records relating to research collaborations between Irish and Chinese partners. However, many Irish universities were unable to provide comprehensive records in this category, either because retrieving records at scale was deemed too burdensome or because of commercial sensitivity exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
Joint research centers are a particular source of concern. In 2018, Dublin Institute of Technology opened a joint center with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), known as the Sino-Irish Research and Innovation Institute for Novel and Emerging Sciences and Technologies. The center’s focus on artificial intelligence raises the possibility that its work could align with military-oriented priorities within Beijing’s scientific agenda. It is rated “very high risk” for ties to People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-linked research in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s China Defense Universities Tracker. It has also appeared on end-user export control lists maintained by the United States and Canada. It has been linked in open-source reporting to suspected Chinese state-sponsored hacking activity.
Joint research centers with Chinese universities operating in sensitive technological domains can pose clear risks: they may be exploited to support PLA weapons-development programs or contribute to research that enables human rights violations. Similar concerns have been repeatedly raised in other countries, including the UK and the United States.
Undue authoritarian influences
The most significant risk arising from Ireland–China academic collaboration is the potential chilling effect on academic freedom within Irish higher education. The incidents at University College Dublin noted above, including the integration of its CI into accredited teaching on Chinese politics and the characterization of “academic freedom” as an obstacle to internationalization, should be treated as early indicators of the pressure authoritarian regimes can exert through institutional partnerships.
Irish universities’ links with controversial Chinese companies also illustrate these risks. In 2021, the head of Huawei Ireland wrote privately to the then Minister for Defense to protest an article critical of the company authored by a University College Dublin academic, requesting the Minister’s “full support in mitigating the damage that has been done.” When concerns about this intervention were raised with its leadership, the university president reportedly dismissed them as an “overreaction”.
Huawei has previously been criticized for supplying technology used in ethnically targeted surveillance against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and its 5G equipment has been banned in multiple countries on national security grounds. In 2023, the Irish Dáil introduced an amendment to the Communications Regulation and Digital Hub Development Agency Act that could enable the company’s exclusion from Ireland’s critical national infrastructure.
At least two Irish universities, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Galway, acknowledge research collaborations with Huawei in areas such as advanced computing and electrical engineering, with no financial disclosures attached.
Recommendations
- Increase scrutiny of transnational education with China. Irish universities’ TNE activities are overseen by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) under the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Act 2012. The current framework gives limited attention to student and staff welfare and to risks of adverse foreign influence on academic freedom in transnational programs, leaving Irish TNE operations in China particularly exposed to CCP leverage. As a first step, QQI should introduce systematic reviews of TNE activities, explicitly accounting for China’s restrictive academic freedom environment and the risks it poses.
- Improve awareness of risks in Chinese collaborations. The scale of Chinese involvement in Irish higher education remains poorly documented; few statistics or official reports provide a clear picture. This lack of visibility should not be mistaken for an absence of risk. Repeated controversies, particularly those centered on University College Dublin, Ireland’s most deeply connected university in this area, should prompt greater attention from university leaders and policymakers. Irish institutions and regulators should map existing China-related collaborations more systematically and facilitate frank, informed discussion of the risks they entail.
Explore more data on Ireland-China academic engagements here.
